President of the Glasnost Defence Foundation (GDF), Aleksei Simonov, submitted a request to the Khakassia Prosecutor's Office on 7 February to force the republic's law-enforcement agencies to uphold the law in the investigation of a criminal case against the editor of the New Focus online magazine, Mikhail Afanasyev, who stands accused of libel for words that, according to a court ruling, are true. [Read more]